


Resignation

by Ad_caeruleam



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Not Really Unrequited, Post-Canon, Romance, Unrequited Love, it's complicated - Freeform, kinda introspective, very angsty actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:13:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ad_caeruleam/pseuds/Ad_caeruleam
Summary: He lifted his back off the mattress, crawling closer to the princess. Sitting on the edge, his bare feet against the wood, he put a hand on her shoulder.“It's okay.” He assured her with a shrug. "I'll remember eventually, so don't worry about it."She seemed mortified. "But what if you don't?""I’ll live with it."His answer did not satisfy her.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	Resignation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [misswongs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misswongs/gifts).



> HI, this is a work translated from Spanish by me, a person that sucks at English, so I apologize for any grammar mistakes this could have. 
> 
> Enjoy!

"I heard that you and Prince Sidon are good friends."

Link fixed his gaze on Zelda, at the other side of the small upper floor of his house. She was sitting on the desk’s chair, her hands busy combing her hair.

"King Dorephan mentioned in his letter that Prince Sidon is looking forward to seeing you again." She explained absently. Her fingers divided her hair into three equal sections that began to overlap one another, forming the beginning of a braid.

He scratched his stomach as he lazily lay on his bed. He was too full, the dinner he avidly devoured a few minutes ago not digested yet, making him feel bloated and heavy, but satisfied.

"Sidon is a good guy." He stated, remembering his last visit to Zora’s domain. Vah Ruta was the first Divine Beast he set free from Ganon’s influence, just after visiting Impa in Kakariko Village. It was an ... overwhelming experience, to pick a term. Hearing everyone talk about things he couldn't remember was very confusing, but it was something he had to get used to.

Despite the small altercations he had there, Sidon was always friendly. He was a bit flamboyant and remarkably optimistic, he trusted him blindly from the very first moment. As stifling as the expectations placed upon him might have been, Sidon's expectations helped him dispel the doubts that rounded his mind before facing the Divine Beast. He appreciated that.

"How does he look?" She asked, half of her braid already done. Her chair was pointing the opposite direction, so the princess had turned her body slightly to the side, her face partially peeking at him. That, and the dim lighting that battled the darkness from the outside, made it hard for him to distinguish her expression clearly. “I met Prince Sidon when he was a child, but I haven't seen him in…” She paused. “For a long time.”

Link thought about his answer. How could he describe him?

“He’s big. Very big. And red.” A small yawn escaped his lips. "And muscular.”

She interrupted her almost finished hairstyle to face him better. He still couldn't read her expression fully, but he could see the ghost of a smile on her face. “Big and red? Is that how you describe Zora’s Prince?”

He brought one of his hands up to his chin, pretending he was considering her remark. "You're right. I forgot to mention his teeth are very sharp,” he added, “and shiny.”

Zelda turned her face forward, not before he could see her smile widening. "Oh, that completely changes everything. Thanks for your valuable and precise description; I can picture him vividly now.”

“You're welcome.” He murmured, earning a reproachful yet amused look from her.

She finally finished binding all the strands of her hair, the braid flowing smoothly over her back, dancing with every movement. It captured his attention longer than it should have, he couldn't help it, her hair had the purest golden color he'd ever seen on a person before.

"You've always been appreciated in Zora’s domain." She commented, in a good mood. “Mipha told me you used to spend a lot of time there when you were younger, and they all grew fond of you.”

"I think I heard something like that." He said, rewinding one of the few memories he had of her in his head.

"Since you were so good at swimming, they joked that you must have been a Zora in your past life."

“Perhaps.”

"That, or you were half-lizard." He frowned. A lizard, him? Actually, it wasn’t the first time someone compared him to one. He thought he heard one of the guards at Gerudo Town say the same thing after catching him climbing one of the walls surrounding the place.

On second thought, it wasn't that much of a wild assumption.

The princess's soft laugh interrupted his thoughts.

"I'm sure they all have funny stories about you."

"Oh, believe me, they do." He conceded.

“Oh, really?” She rose from her seat, her slim figure filling the space. "Like what?"

"You can ask them when we get there," he said, staring at the ceiling, "I assure you they remember better than I do."

When the princess said nothing back, he glanced in her direction, cursing himself at noticing he had fucked up. He hadn't given much thought to the implications of his last comment, and how his amnesia was still a highly sensitive topic. Every time he mentioned it, he could see guilt and remorse on Zelda's face.

She walked over to him, sitting on the corner of the mattress when she got close enough. Her efforts to maintain a jovial expression were evident, but he could see that she was forcing it.

"Can’t you remember anything they tell you?" She asked, her hands on her lap, her back too straight. She maintained some of her manners from a hundred years ago, her movements appearing quite elegant and robotic. "Those stories, don’t they... don’t they provoke any reaction in you?"

Her eyes locked on his, waiting for an answer she already knew. He shook his head. "Nothing I haven't told you yet."

She nodded, looking away. “I see.”

He didn't know what else to say. They had had that conversation before, several times, and it always ended depressingly.

He didn’t remember even a quarter of his existence, could hardly access small brushstrokes of his memory, specifically what his life was after becoming one of Hylia’s Champions and the princess's appointed knight. The pieces of his mind that didn't involve her were rare, and they didn't have enough context.

He had accepted it a long time ago, that his memories would take time to come back, if they did at all. The hardest part had been months ago, when he woke up in a world he didn't know, tied to a fate he didn't ask for, the responsibility of Hyrule's future weighing on his shoulders before he could even remember how to tie his shoelaces.

But he learned to live with it, assimilated it as best he could, and moved on. He ignored all the questions in his head, fearing they could slow him down. He kept himself busy all day, making sure that by nightfall he'd be so exhausted that he would've no energy to reflect on his identity, his unknown past, and future.

He refrained himself from blaming anyone, it was no one’s fault, although Zelda did not share that vision. She seemed convinced that she was responsible for his inability to remember his family or friends, that all the memories he had retrieved were, in one way or another, tied to her. It sounded more like she was blaming herself for something she couldn't control, but he couldn't help but wonder if she knew something he didn't, if the remorse in her gaze was more justified than he thought.

He didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

He lifted his back off the mattress, crawling closer to the princess. Sitting on the edge, his bare feet against the wood, he put a hand on her shoulder.

“It's okay.” He assured her with a shrug. "I'll remember eventually, so don't worry about it."

She seemed mortified. "But what if you don't?"

"I’ll live with it."

His answer did not satisfy her.

"There must be a way." Her hair wasn't the only thing abnormally bright, so were her eyes, vibrating with determination. "It's not like you remember nothing at all, right? You told me that you managed to retrieve some memories, that the photos worked. Perhaps, if we visit other places-”

"Zelda," he interrupted her, her name feeling foreign on his tongue, forbidden. He didn't understand why, it didn’t make any sense. He has addressed her like this the whole time. "I've been to all of Hyrule already, and I still don't remember anything but you."

It wasn’t a lie. Despite having some remembrance of the Champions in his head, he couldn't say he remembered them, not as he should. Not as he remembered her.

“I’m so sorry, Link.” The melancholy in her voice was heartbreaking. Sadly, that was one of the most prominent emotions for a princess who had lost her Kingdom over a hundred years ago, forgotten by her people as she fought to prevent the little that was left from being destroyed.

He squeezed shoulder, half-smiling "If I could have chosen, I would have chosen you, anyway." He admitted, shamelessly. "If there's anyone I want to remember, it's you."

It was a conclusion he had recently come to. It wasn’t pleasant to not remember who his parents were, what his childhood was like. It wasn’t pleasant to do things instinctively without having the slightest idea how or when he learned, who taught him. He was left with an immense emptiness in his head, a gap that stretched into the depths of his mind. Yes, it fucking sucked not remembering; not having an identity beyond what others told him he was, what others told him he is.

However, after meeting the princess, the Zelda from a hundred years later, he was afraid to remember. He was afraid to bear the grief of all the loved ones he lost and would never get back. He was afraid to share her same melancholy and trauma.

From the day he woke up, he had clung to her, the voice in his head, the girl of his visions. Zelda was all he had left, the only one who got trapped like him, frozen in time. If her company was enough to keep him sane, then he didn't need the memories of those who would never return. Or so he wanted to believe.

His words shocked her, surprise deforming her features. Her gaze ran carefully over his face, scrutinizing him, trying to find out if he was telling the truth, if he was serious.

When she found her answer, she smiled, touched by his honesty. She placed, very cautiously, a hand on his cheek. The contact sent shivers through his body that he desperately tried to hide. Her palm was soft and warm.

If there was anything that competed with his sword skills, that was his ability to keep a blank expression. He didn’t move, didn’t react to the affectionate gaze Zelda was giving him, as her body slowly leaned in his direction, remarkably nervous as she eliminated the distance that separated them little by little.

He resisted, his gaze fixed on her face, his arms steady at his sides, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't know what to do, so he did nothing. He stood there until the space between them was almost non-existent until her breath was hitting his cheeks, the princess's hand on his.

Then, when he could almost feel her lips on his, he pulled away.

If he had to explain why, he wouldn't know how.

It wasn't that he didn't feel that way towards her, because he was sure he did, he had fallen in love even before he knew who she was. At the Shrine of Resurrection, he could only desperately think about following the voice that woke him up, of finding its owner.

As he remembered, gathering all the fragments of his memories captured on the tablet, the feeling intensified. He witnessed her struggles, frustrations, and dreams. He witnessed her efforts, her failures. He saw her laugh, cry, run away, and fight. He saw her in her worst moments.

He knew her, not as much as he should, but enough to love her. What he felt was pure and sincere, he was addicted to the accumulation of sensations that being at her side brought him.

But it was not that simple.

Every time he got too close to Zelda, guilt, and shame flooded his mind, for some reason. It didn't feel right, even if it was what she wanted.

Perhaps it was his subconscious, perhaps he wasn’t as far away from the knight of a hundred years ago as he thought, and it was he who caused such discomfort. He didn't remember what a knight's etiquette and protocol was, and it wasn't among the things that survived the Calamity, but he was pretty sure there was no way that would be allowed. He had noticed how he kept his distance in the past, always a few steps away from the princess.

He was no longer a knight, but that didn't make him feel more worthy of her. To be honest, it was quite the opposite.

The fact that he saw her body materialize out of nowhere and descend from the sky, bathed in divine light and glowing like a star, made it slightly more difficult. He knew that, as the Hero chosen by the Sword, he wasn't exactly normal. Nonetheless, Zelda was the reincarnation of the Goddess, a superior and omnipotent being, and he had seen first-hand the reach of her powers.

It was far beyond his understanding, far beyond what he could handle. He was just a mortal with a magic sword, he had plenty of limits.

It felt like falling in love with a Great Fairy; understandable but immature, something it shouldn’t go beyond platonic admiration.

Of course, he couldn't explain that to Zelda. After all, months ago, when he could still see the flow of power running through her veins, raindrops slipping across her silhouette without penetrating the fabric of her dress, all living creatures attracted to her aura. When she looked like a dream within a dream, floating ethereally in front of him, she had asked him to, please, treat her the same way he treats everyone else.

He resisted the urge to laugh. That was impossible.

"Pardon me," he heard her say while pulling away from him too, embarrassed. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Ashamed, reproaching himself for making her feel bad, he hastened to add, "Don't apologize, I ...”

He closed his mouth, his lips pressed into a line. He didn't know how to follow that sentence.

“I understand.” She stated, an artificial smile plastered across her face to lighten the oppressive tension inside the room. "You don't have to say anything. It's better this way.”

He didn’t feel like it was better this way, but he couldn’t argue against a situation that he had created. He watched as she stood up and walked away without looking back at him.

She went to the desk, where the Sheikah Slate rested, and took it in her hands, the dark screen glowing blue.

“It's late.” She announced, in an empty tone, "I'm going to check our route one last time." She looked up from the device, her gaze on him. "You should get some sleep, you look tired."

He didn’t answer. She gave him one last smile before walking down the wooden stairs.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh booooooooy, I know, shitty ending. 
> 
> Anyway, this is my first ZeLink fic, I am absolutely obsessed with this game and this ship, and I HAD to write something about them. I must say I struggled a lot to write this, this is my third try actually. Is it good? Is it bad? Leave a comment so I can know! 
> 
> I don't wanna make this long but I need to add this special mention to my friend Mel, happy birthday, I love you, thank you for all your support, I REALLY don't deserve you. I hope you like your present. 
> 
> That's it for now, maybe I'll write more, maybe I won't, lol.


End file.
